Holiday Arc: Part 6 - Halloween
by VegaLume-San
Summary: Heero and Duo dress up for the holiday and volunteer to hand out candy during the county's annual fall festival and Heero has to leave when rumors of a monster prowling about call him out to work. You may wish to read part 1 of the arc to understand all that is going on in this story.


Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing it belongs to Sunrise, Bandai, and some other very lucky people, I do however like to play with them and I do promise to put them back when I am done. I make no money from this, it's not for profit, just for fun.

Title: The Holiday Arc part 6 - Halloween

Author: Vega-Lume

Note: You may need to read the Christmas story (part 1) to understand some of what is going on in this story.

Warnings for the entire Arc: Yaoi, OOC-nes, sap, humor, a smidge of angst and mention of citrus.

Beta: Shenlong (Deb)

Pairing: 1+2x1 (or however you want to put it)

For Shenlong (Deb) – thank you for giving me a few ideas, they really helped get this story going.

Heero and Duo dress up for the holiday and volunteer to hand out candy during the county's annual fall festival and Heero has to leave when rumors of a monster prowling about call him out to work.

Halloween

By Vel

"The bathroom's all yours," Duo announced as he appeared in the bedroom doorway. Heero looked up from the book he had been entertaining himself with while he waited for his turn in the bathroom, his expectant smile fading into a look of faint disgust.

Duo's skin was a pale, chalky grey/green with pieces of loose latex stuck on it to give it the illusion that chunks of skin were rotting away and dropping off, exposing the darker flesh underneath. He had blackened his mouth and teeth and smeared dark brown, fake blood all over his lips, chin and neck. His fingers and hands up to his forearms were also coated, looking as if he had ripped into something with his bare hands.

The clothing, a simple light colored t-shirt, though it was hard to tell what color it had once been, and blue jeans, the left leg ripped off just below the knee, were in tatters, covered in blood, dirt and chunky gore.

The exposed lower leg looked like it had been broken, the bone protruding from the skin and the rotting wound decorated with fake maggots. His bare arms, painted gray to match his face and neck, bore several realistic bite marks, one so gruesome it looked as if a large hunk of meat was bitten out, this wound also home to fake bugs.

"Wa… I…" Heero was at a loss for words as his husband stepped closer and turned in a circle so he could see his back too. The back wasn't as messy as the front, but there were a few bloody hand prints and dark stains on the shirt and seat of the pants.

"Great isn't it?" Duo said excitedly, turning to face his husband. "The hair was the hard part, trying to make it look like it was falling out without actually cutting it or shaving my scalp," he laughed, "the rest was really fun, almost like finger painting."

Duo's costume was quite impressive and very detailed, but the pleased look on his face was slowly fading when Heero failed to say anything positive. Taking a deep breath he searched for something to say, anything that could be encouraging, but suddenly threw a hand over his mouth instead. "What…" he tried only to stop as he dry retched into his palm, "What is that revolting smell?"

"I'm going for accuracy here," Duo explained with a grin as he stepped a little closer, the fake intestines that were hanging from bloody slit across the front of his shirt swung gently against his legs. "So I opened that container from the back of the fridge and put some in my pocket, see," he pulled out a small zip top bag with a small amount of unidentifiable gray muck with green bits floating in it.

As far as Heero remembered, that container had been back there since before they got married and only God knew what was in it. The foul smell seemed to worsen now that it was out of Duo's pocket and Heero could practically taste it. Pulling up the hem of his shirt he pressed it over his nose and mouth. "You're not getting in the car smelling like that," Heero said, his voice muffled by the fabric.

"I wasn't planning on it babe," Duo said with a smirk. "I'd probably ruin the upholstery with all the blood on my back anyway."

"That," Heero said nodding to the bag Duo still held, "Is not coming home either, please throw it away before we leave the carnival."

"Sure thing," he smiled and slipped it back into his jeans pocket.

"Thank you," Heero replied sincerely, "And you look great by the way. Even better than the ones in that show you like on the Ultra Oldies channel (1)."

"Thanks," Duo said and leaned in for a kiss, only to have Heero dodge him.

"I'm going to go change and don't sit on anything," Heero said as he slipped past Duo and snatched up his costume, which was lying on the bed, not stopping until he was in the bathroom.

"Yuck," he mumbled and flipped on the fan, tying to dissipate the stink left behind by Duo's 'rotting flesh smell' baggie. It didn't take near as long for him to get ready as it had for Duo because the only makeup he was wore was on his face. Lindy had given him a few pointers as he wasn't very experienced but he managed to do it quickly and have it look pretty much the way he had wanted it too.

Several minutes later he stepped out and Zombie Duo gave a wolf whistle. Heero's face had been powered to give him a paler complexion, blue lines spider webbing over his cheeks and neck to make the veining stand out, and to Duo's surprise, his eyes had been lined in kohl to emphasize the fact that he was wearing golden yellow contacts. The rest of the costume was rather simple, just a black button down shirt tucked into slim fitting black pants. A belt, flat dress shoes, and a long black topcoat with a red satin lining finished the ensemble.

"Mmm, you look so hot, babe," he purred appreciatively, licking his lips at the sight of his sexy, dangerous looking, Vampire husband.

"I'm still not kissing you until you take a shower," Heero told him as he pulled on his topcoat, his fangs highly visible on his perfect white teeth.

Duo pouted, which was a disturbing expression for a zombie to have, then turned to grab the old, faded thrift store hoodie he had bought specifically to wear with his costume.

"I don't know how I'm going to go ten hours and not be able to kiss you," Duo groused as he pulled his braid out of the back of the hoodie. He had done the makeup extremely well; it really did look like his hair was falling out by the handful.

"Well, you'll have too," Heero soothed, "because you may want to smell like a cadaver, but I most certainly do not." He grabbed a black doorman umbrella from the holder near the coat tree then gave Bear a pat on the head before opening the door and stepping into the early, murky afternoon.

"Forget something?" Duo asked as he picked up Heero's glasses from the end table near the sofa where he set them when he left for the bathroom. He had had an eye exam a few weeks ago and now had to wear glasses all the time.

"Nope," Heero replied when he saw what Duo was holding. "The contacts are in my prescription."

Duo grinned and set the glasses back down and followed his husband outside. "Fucking hell," Duo exclaimed when he joined Heero in the driveway. "It looks like Silent Hill out here."

"We get fog like this several times a year, mostly in the fall and early winter," Heero explained as he walked to the sidewalk and started into town. "It should clear up in time for the carnival."

"I hope so," Duo replied as he fell in step beside his husband then asked, "They won't cancel the carnival if it doesn't clear up, will they?"

"No, I don't think they would," Heero answered. "It snowed fairly heavily last year and the carnival went on just as scheduled."

The pair walked through the foggy streets that were eerie and quiet as most people in their neighborhood were still at work and school. Heero had worked that morning as well but had been given a long lunch to go home and change into his costume.

"Who's working today?" Duo asked mostly to fill the silence.

"Lindy, Drake, and Roslyn," Heero replied. "But Lindy had the morning off and isn't due in until 4pm."

They arrived at the Animal Services complex several minutes later and Heero went to the office to check in and add Duo to the volunteer log. With all the children expected to come in for candy they really needed an extra hand.

"Hey, Duo," Drake greeted from his place behind the counter, he was dressed as a late 1800's British detective and reminded Duo of Sherlock Holmes(2). "You are one nasty looking zombie my friend," he said with a laugh then made a face before adding, "You smell like one too."

"So everyone keeps telling me," Duo smirked then wandered off to look at the animals as he always did when visiting the complex.

"Is Duo in with the dogs again?" Heero asked as he joined Drake at the counter.

"Yep," the other man replied absently, not looking up from the computer.

It was slow in the office, no calls out and no visitors, yet. As soon as school let out every child in the county would be there to get candy. Almost everyone attended the carnival so there wasn't anyone at home to hand out candy, and so the businesses started doing it, Kallamarras and the other the towns in the county had done the business to business trick-or-treating program for decades.

They were also doing their annual animal adoption fair, hoping that a few families would go home with more than candy.

The bell over the door jingled and the pair glanced over to see Roslyn walk in holding the fast food bag containing her lunch. She hadn't bothered with a costume and was dressed in her uniform. She waved in greeting before disappearing into the staff area to eat.

"She didn't dress up last year either did she?" Heero asked of his friend who had already turned back to the computer, hoping to complete his task before it got busy.

"Nope," Drake replied. "I've been working here for five years and she's never worn a costume."

"I'm going to go in back and finish up some paperwork, call me if it gets busy," Heero said before turning back towards his office.

Drake just held up a hand in an acknowledging wave, then started typing again.

The office stayed quiet for nearly two hours before the first trickle of children came through. Drake handled them alone for the first half an hour, but by the time Lindy arrived a half an hour early, it seemed like every child in Kallamarras was squeezed into the tiny reception area looking at the animals and hoping for candy.

Drake and Roslyn were busy at the counter filling out the adoption forms for two lucky animals who had found new homes, while Duo stood off to the side handing out candy. Heero was off with another family looking to adopt a cat.

"Looks like I showed up right on time," Lindy said as she tossed her coat over the counter and picked up a candy bowl, before joining Duo.

"Looking good," Duo complimented as he took in Lindy's cream colored halter style dress, her blond hair had been curled and pinned up in a way that made it look shorter than it actually was. "Your costume is from a movie, right?"

"Yes, I'm The Girl from 'The Seven Year Itch',(3)" she replied then turned to smile at a toddler dressed as a bumble bee, she crouched to be at eye level then held out the bowl so the child could get some candy.

Duo had never seen Lindy wear heels before, not even to their wedding and from the way the girl moved in them, he could tell she wasn't all that comfortable in them.

As she straightened up and turned back to look and her friend, Duo could tell that she hadn't really gotten a good look at him the first time and he grinned when he saw her pretty face scrunch up with a look of disgust.

"You are the most disgusting thing I have ever seen," her nose wrinkled, "Or smelled, and Heero and I were on road kill duty all last summer."

Duo laughed and dumped a handful of candy into a teenage girl's candy bag before saying, "I'm entered in the costume contest at the carnival, I'm hoping to at least place in the top three."

"I'll vote for you," the teen girl said and her group of friends all giggled before hurrying away, chattering excitedly amongst themselves.

"Looks like you're getting a fan club," Lindy laughed, making Duo blush enough that the pink hue could be seen through the makeup on his cheeks.

Another half an hour passed and the stream of kids seemed never ending, Duo didn't think the town even had that many kids.

"We don't," Lindy explained. "The carnival in a Garrahm County affair and is held here in Kallamarras because it's the largest town in the county, the families from all four towns in Garrahm County come to participate."

"Thanks," Duo replied with a grin. "I was beginning to think the kids were changing costumes in the parking lot and coming back in for seconds."

"I'm sure a few are," Heero said as he joined the pair with his own candy bowl. "I'm sure I've seen that lot before."

To Duo's surprise, his husband nodded towards that gaggle of teen girls that kept giggling over Duo.

"Oh them, they're Duo's fan club," Lindy said and Heero unknowingly shot the girls a look that made them stop giggling and sent them out the door.

"Heero," Duo laughed. "Stop glaring at them."

"Sorry," Heero replied and Duo managed a quick kiss.

"Don't be," Duo smiled affectionately. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Gah, get a room," Lindy teased, and taking advantage of Heero's momentary startlement Duo snuck a second kiss.

Heero tried to look angry at the lingering zombie smell but the joy in his eyes spoiled it.

"I need a break, I'm going to the kennels for a while," Duo said, dumping his remaining candy in Heero's bowl. "Page me if you get overrun."

"Okay," Heero replied and watched his husband wind his way through the kids and into the staff area near the kennels.

They stayed fairly busy though the next hour, then the crowds began to thin as the carnival opened and drew the kids away. By 7pm there were just a few stragglers and one family in the process of adopting a dog, the 9th dog adoption that evening. In all they adopted out 13 animals in less than 4 hours.

Lindy made a mark on the white board and smiled in satisfaction, "We're tied with the Halloween adoption record, it's been at 13 animals for six years. What do you think the odds are that we'll break it this year?"

"I don't know, seems like we won't see many more people tonight," Heero said as he set his empty candy bowl on the counter.

"I think we have a pretty good chance of seeing another adoption tonight," Drake replied as he opened a large carton and pulled out a few of the remaining bags of candy.

"Really?" Lindy asked, excited at the prospect of breaking the record.

"Heero, do I hear the pitter patter of tiny trotters already?" Drake asked in a teasing tone, "You've only been married for about five months."

"What are you talking about?" Heero asked his African American friend as he pushed the empty candy bowl closer to Drake.

The other man nodded towards Duo and Heero turned to see his husband babbling happily as he played with the resident potbellied pig. "They look quite smitten," he commented then used his teeth to tear open a bag of fun sized Kit Kat bars before dumping the treats in Heero's waiting bowl.

"Do you think Bear would get on with a pig?" Lindy asked.

"It's not Bear I'm worried about, it's Akuma."

Lindy and Drake groaned in unison.

"Guys, we have an emergency call out," Roz shouted from the office area. "Heero, Lindy I need you to take it."

Candy and kids forgotten the pair quickly made their way to the office to see what the call was.

"There have been several reports from the Elias area of, how do I put this…" Roz looked puzzled, "Werewolf sightings.(4)"

"A werewolf?" Lindy said with a roll of her green eyes.

"Yes, a werewolf, a large snarling beast leaving trails of blood in its wake," Roslyn stated, "Though I'm certain it is probably a large dog. From the reports, I'm guessing it was injured, but no one can get a good look at it because it's moving around in the fog."

Lindy looked down at her lovely dress and heels, "I'm not dressed for a call out."

"I have a pair of sweats and some Wellington boots in my locker," Heero said.

"And you can wear my jacket," Roz added, nodding towards the garment that hung near her office door. "And Heero, I know your husband is entered in the costume contest, but do you think he'd be willing to stay a while longer and give us a hand here?"

"Yes, I'm sure he'll stay."

"Thank you, sorry about this," she said sincerely but the pair simply nodded, this was after all their job.

Heero pulled out the boots and sweats and left Lindy to change while he sought out his husband.

"Duo, Lindy and I have a call out. Do you think you can stay here and help out?" Heero asked. "The office closes in less than an hour; you'll still have plenty of time to enjoy the carnival before the contest starts."

"Don't worry about it," Duo replied. "Just do your job and be safe. I'll head over with Drake after we close up here and if you don't get back before we leave, call me on my cell so we can meet up at the carnival."

"I'm ready to go," Lindy called from the counter and Heero gave his husband a parting smile before joining his partner.

The girl looked odd in her mismatched, ill-fitting clothing, but Heero knew not to comment on it, other than to ask if the boots fit alright.

"They're a little large on me so I stuffed the toe with Kleenex," Lindy replied as she climbed into the driver's seat of their truck.

"So, do you really think it's just a dog?" she asked after a while, the drive to Elias, usually only taking ten minutes, took longer thanks to the heavy fog that still blanketed the road.

Before Heero could answer their radio crackled and a Roslyn voice filled their truck.

"Guys, I just got a call from the game warden at Truton's Wild Animal Preserve. One of their tagged wolves has gone off the grid. They believe she was injured and may be the animal people are seeing in Elias. They have some of their own people out looking too, but if you find her first and it is their wolf, they would prefer if she were sedated and not put down, she's one of the few females left and they want to heal her if they can."

Heero took the hand set and acknowledged the call, then turned to his partner as she spoke.

"Truton is on the other side if Elias, there's a pretty good chance this animal is their missing wolf."

"I wish this fog would let up, it would make our job so much easier," Heero said, mostly to himself and Lindy snickered.

"Well, at least it isn't raining," she said and as if on cue there was a roar of thunder and the rain began to fall."

"You were saying?" Heero asked sarcastically and the girl just laughed.

They reached the area Roslyn had mapped out for them before they left the office and parked beside a large, overgrown field.

"It's hard to tell if the animal was here," Heero said as he swept the beam of his flashlight over the sidewalk and into the tall grass. "Any sign of blood or foot prints have been washed away by the rain."

"I can't hear anything either," Lindy added. "The reports said the animal was snarling and growling."

"Hello," a voice called at and the pair turned to see a woman standing on her porch, the overhang protecting her from the rain that had eased up to an annoying drizzle. "Are you looking for the animal?"

"Yes," Lindy replied after jogging across the street to talk to her. They spoke for a few minutes then Lindy rejoined Heero at the truck. "She said the animal was father down the street near the trees, she saw it about 5 minutes before we pulled up," she said, pointing towards where the animal had last been seen.

They climbed back into the truck and drove down the quiet street, parking near the dark cluster of trees. They stepped out and as they stood by the open doors of the truck they could hear the deep, rumbling growl of the animal as it hid in the darkness.

Lindy pointed her flashlight towards the tangle of trees and caught the flash of eyes reflecting in the beam.

"Looks like we found it," Heero said softly as he quietly opened the lock box and removed the dart gun. He inserted the dart with appropriate medication for the type of animal they were sedating and then the pair slowly moved around the trees, constantly keeping the animal in sight. It was a wolf, and it looked exhausted and in no hurry to go anywhere.

"I'm taking the shot now," Heero informed his partner and Lindy took a few steps back. There was a very real chance the wolf would bolt when the dart hit it and neither wanted to be in her way. There was a soft sound as the air powered gun sent the dart flying and the wolf was suddenly in motion, tearing across the field, back towards where they had first parked.

The two Animal Control Officers darted back to their truck and moved closer to where they had last seen the wolf, and after re-securing the dart gun they ventured into the tall grass in search of the wolf. The sedative they used worked quickly and she should be asleep already. It only took a few moments to find the disturbed grass and follow it to the sleeping wolf.

"She has some pretty nasty cuts along her shoulder and ribs," Heero said as he crouched near her. "Her breathing seems fine though and she should be out for a while. Why don't you go back to the truck and call the game warden and give him our location."

"Okay, I'll be back in a few," she replied and cut straight through to the truck and made the call. It only took the game warden and their vet on call about 15 minutes to get to her and she led them back to Heero who was still carefully monitoring the wolf's vitals.

"That's our girl," the vet said as he examined the wolf. He had treated her in the past and was always present when she was sedated so the researchers could work on her radio collar, which they had found cleanly removed earlier that day, indicating that it had been cut off with a knife or razor.

"What do you think happened to her?" Lindy asked as the assisted the other men in carrying the wolf to their truck in the sling they had brought with them.

"We arrested some poachers in the reserve recently," the game warden said. "We believe she may have been trapped, was possibly unconscious and presumed dead, so the poacher removed her tracking collar before taking her off the reserve. She probably broke free when she woke and has been trying to make her way back."

As they made it to the street the back of the Wildlife Preserve's truck opened and one of their men jumped out to help load the wolf inside. They didn't have much time before the sedative wore off and the vet didn't want to administer any more in the field.

They quickly went through all the formalities and paper work duly signed before each group was on their way again. The game warden thanked them again, and promised to call their office in a few days, to let them know how the wolf was doing.

"Glad that's over," Lindy sighed, then saw her reflection in the rear view mirror. "Gods I look like I've been wallowing in a pig sty."

Her cheeks and pale hair were streaked with mud and there were bits of grass and dried leaves stuck all over her. Heero didn't look much better, his neatly slicked hair was sticking out in odd places, most of the powder had been washed away and he had lost one of his contacts so one eye was blue and the other yellow.

"I don't know about you, partner, but I'm not going to any carnival until I take a shower first."

Glancing at his watch, Heero replied, "We have time, it's just about 7:30 now and they're not planning to do the costume contest until 10, they may have even delayed it because of the rain."

"Well, my costume is back at the office so I have to go there first, and then go back to my place to shower."

"How about you stop off at your place, I take the truck and go to mine. We both clean up, then I pick you up and we go to the office. That way you can change back into your costume there while I take care of the paperwork, then we can go to the carnival."

"I like how you think," Lindy said with a grin and took the highway turn off that would take then to their neighborhood.

It only took them about twenty minutes to clean up and they made it back to the office just before 8pm. To their surprise, both Duo and Drake were still there, having decided to wait for their significant other's rather than go to the party without them.

"Are you okay?" Drake asked as they appeared in the doorway. "Roz said you called in over 45 minutes ago, it doesn't take that long to drive back from Elias."

"We're fine, we had gotten pretty dirty chasing down that wolf so we opted to clean up first," Lindy said then gave her boyfriend and reassuring kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to go put my costume on."

"You didn't have to wait," Heero said when Duo stepped closer, he could see his husband wanted to pull him into his arms but was holding back because of his costume, so Heero stepped forward and gave him a quick peck on the mouth. "I'm fine," he assured him and Duo sighed in relief. "I have a little paperwork to do, and then we can head out."

"Heero, wait," Duo said as he hurried after the other man. "I have something I want to talk to you about."

"What was that all about?" Lindy asked Drake after Duo pushed passed her.

"Look at the white board," Drake said and Lindy looked up to see the number 14 and an exclamation point written in bold red ink, both underlined and circled.

"We broke the Halloween Adoption record!" Lindy called out in delight. "That's wonderful."

"It is fine Duo, really," Heero's voice came in the hallway, sounding a bit exasperated.

"Are you sure," Duo asked as they appeared in the lobby, and from his tone he sounded as if he had already asked the question before.

"Duo, look at me," Heero said, and when he was certain he had the other man's full attention he said, "I was already pretty sure you were going to do it so I told Drake it would be okay if you asked, and if need be, encourage you if you hesitated. I would have told you myself to go ahead and do it, but I had to go on that run."

Duo seemed to melt, "I wanna kiss you so bad right now."

"Later," Heero replied. "We have a carnival to go to."

"Is anyone going to let me in on what's going on?" Lindy asked.

"Duo adopted the potbellied pig," Drake said. "Right before closing, that's how we broke the record."

"You adopted Miss Piggy?" Lindy asked, pleased that the sweet animal was going to such a good home.

"That's not her name anymore," Duo said as he pulled on his grimy hoodie. "I changed it to Dumpling, and don't laugh," he added quickly with a finger pointed accusingly at the girl. "She's my pig and I'll name her what I want, and I want to call her Dumpling."

"Whatever you want," Lindy said, trying to keep as straight face.

"Yes," Heero said firmly, "whatever he wants."

The rain had pretty much stopped by the time to two couples arrived at the carnival. Though Duo had signed up several days before, they hurried first to the costume contest check in to make sure Duo didn't get disqualified for not being there. They were in luck and had a full 15 minutes to spare before the pre judging ended so they waited as Duo and a few other contestants went in to be pre judged. The judges took pictures of each contestant, then the selected the top ten. Those ten pictures would be taken and pinned to a bulletin board where the carnival goers could vote for the ones they liked best by taking a ticket with a number that matched the picture and turning it in to a one of the judges at the booth. When the hour was up the judges tallied the tickets and the costume with the most won. In the event there was a tie, the judges voted which of the two they liked better.

They had used this same process throughout the day for each of the 4 costume contests they held, child standard, mostly for the kiddies in the Disney or other commercial costumes, child horror for the scary kids, adult standard, again for the more tame or common costumes, and Duo's class, adult horror.

The four friends lingered around the judging area, played a few games as they waited for the pictures to go up, then like a kid on Christmas, Duo whooped when he saw his photo pinned to the board, right under the large number 2.

"We have a full hour until they tally the tickets, why don't we go find something to eat then play some more games?" Drake suggested.

"That sounds good," Duo replied. "We went past a few food stands on our way in that didn't look too crowded."

Universally agreeing that this was the best plan they headed back the way they came and selected food from the various vendors then went in search of a place to sit and eat that wasn't already occupied or wet from the rain.

As they ate they talked about work, and Hilde's baby, which was due any day now, and if they were planning on going away for the holidays. After the meal they meandered back to the midway and played some more carnival games, Drake vowing to win Lindy a huge teddy bear and doing it, much to his surprise, and her delight.

Soon the mass of people were moving to the staging area and the judges were there to announce the winners of the final contest of the day.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Adult Horror costume contest." The crowd applauded.

"In third place, Mitchell Owens as a Scarecrow." The crowd applauded again as a man on stilts, dressed as a rather menacing scarecrow walked up to the stage and accepted his trophy.

"In second place Alicia Greening, as a broken doll."

Duo's shouts could be heard over the crowd as their favorite coffee girl took the stage; she kind of listed and dragged as she walked on what looked to be broken porcelain legs, her pink dress, tattered and faded grey. Her pale, brown hair hung in oily tangles around her white face. She had painted cracks on her face and arms and wore a black contact in one eye and a solid white in the other.

As the cheering died down the judge took the mic again, "And in first place, Duo Maxwell-Yuy as a zombie."

Heero ginned as Duo got into character and did the zombie shuffle onto the stage and didn't miss the look on Alicia's face when she got whiff of his odiferous husband. Duo accepted his trophy and the three posed for pictures before leaving the staging area.

The three fawned appropriate over Duo's trophy as the other man found a trash can and dutifully disposed of the 'zombie smell' baggie. Then they went back into the midway for a few more games before parting ways for the night.

"Do you want to head back to the shelter and pick up your pig before we go home?" Heero asked as the strolled along the nearly deserted street.

"I don't know how well she walks on a leash, and she's a heavy bugger, I don't think I'm up to carrying her all the way home."

"Don't worry, we can take the truck," Heero replied. "No one would mind if we used it to get Dumpling home."

"What about me, aren't you worried I'll stink up the rig?"

"Nope, you can ride in the cargo area with your pig, I can hose it out in the morning," Heero grinned.

Duo rolled his eyes but gave his husband a smile, "Okay."

They turned at the next corner and walked back to the shelter.

"What are you doing back here?" Roz asked when the pair came in through the staff entrance.

"We adopted the potbellied pig today, we came back to pick her up," Duo said.

"I was hoping to borrow the truck, we didn't bring our car," Heero added.

"I was just on my way out so I can drop you off," Roz said. "But Duo, you'll have to ride in the bed on my truck, I just had my upholstery cleaned.

Heero snickered, but covered it up as he went looking for a leash for their new pet. Roz rang up the purchase while Duo fetched Dumpling from the kennels. Heero clipped the new leash on the harness the pig was already wearing and the trio left the shelter, Roz locking up behind them. Duo climbed into the truck bed while Heero, Dumpling, and Roz got into the cab. The truck rumbled to life and then slowly pulled out of the parking lot and on to the street. The drive home took longer than usual as Roz was careful of her unsecured passenger, but soon they were pulling in next to the silver car and Bear was trying to dig her way through the door.

Duo was already out of the truck, trophy firmly in hand, and at the passenger door to collect his pig before Heero could even undo his seat belt.

"How'd she go?" he asked.

"Everything went fine," Heero replied. "She has better car manners than Bear does."

"I'll see you two days," Roz said. "Enjoy your days off."

"Bye Roz, thanks again."

"No problem," she said as Duo shut the door. She waved goodbye again then drove away.

Heero pulled out his key as Duo picked up Dumpling, just in case either she or Bear got overly excited about meeting each other. They didn't need to worry, Bear quickly fell in love with her piggy sister and soon the pair were running around the back yard while Duo took a shower and Heero made them each a hot drink.

Warm arms wound their way around Heero's waist as he stood by the kitchen window watching the animals paying in the yard. He took a deep breath through his nose, appreciating the clean, fresh smell of the shower warmed skin.

He had cleaned up as well, rinsing his hair and face in the sink and changed into his sleepwear while Duo showered, having already showered just a few hours earlier, he didn't need to do much more than that.

"You said 'later' when I wanted to kiss you, it's later now," Duo said as he kissed his way up Heero neck, from his collar to his ear.

"I did," Heero confirmed, "and it is later."

"I'll bring the kids in and then we can go to bed," Duo said as he stepped away to open the back door and let Bear and Dumpling in.

When he turned back, the kitchen was empty and he could hear Heero locking up the front of the house. They both made it to the bedroom at the same time and Bear, who had finally learned that Duo was sharing their bed permanently, settled into Heero's reading chair until the pair were asleep, then she would climb in and sleep between them.

Knowing what they had in mind for the evening, Heero turned the chair so the back was facing the bed, still not comfortable with Bear watching. The dog didn't mind and stayed in the chair during the move.

Dumpling, who had followed her new best friend wasn't sure what to do until she found the dog bed Bear never used, and was snoring away before the men could even turn down the bed.

"I love you," Duo said when they finally settled under the covers.

"I love you too, my dearest," Heero replied.

Owari

(1)The Walking Dead. For some reason I think Duo would like that show.

(2) Like I mentioned in the notes for the 4th of July story, Drake Carter is named after Bennett Drake, a character in the British Drama 'Ripper Street' so for Halloween Drake is dressed as his namesake.

(3)Lindy, of course is dressed as 'The Girl', the character Marilyn Monroe played in the film

'Seven Year Itch'. This is the film with the iconic scene of the actress standing on a subway grate and her dress being blown up.

(4) The werewolf was suggested by Shenlong (Deb) when I was stuck for ideas for a Halloween story.


End file.
